Nine Seconds
by Anaklusmos14
Summary: One-Shot for Battle of the Fandoms. Just a short little story and Percy and Annabeth's death. First attempt at a one-shot or a Percy x Annabeth fic. Just read and let me know what you think... You won't hurt my feelings if you think it sucked. Also, check out the contest on Lunknownl's page and vote for your favorite in the contest. Battle of the Fandoms Round 1.


**Nine Seconds**

Nine seconds. The number of things a person can accomplish in nine seconds is limited. Over the average lifespan of a person, nine seconds comes and goes millions of times. Most of them pass without the person even registering that it happened. By the time they have realized it, another nine seconds has passed.

In the scheme of things, a single nine seconds is rather insignificant, just a passing moment in which millions of different things occur throughout the world.

Not for Perseus Jackson.

In nine seconds, his entire world was turned upside down. And that is when the rest of the world was changed.

For months, all he had known was war. It began several months earlier being kidnapped by the goddess Juno and sent into a deep slumber until the goddess decided to bring her pawn into play.

Sent into foreign territory with almost no memories of his life, he was cast into a war that would decide the fate of the world.

First he was sent to Alaska with the small task of defeating a giant that was immortal in his homeland. His new friends Hazel and Frank were able to destroy the giant while he retrieved the lost eagle of the Roman Legion.

Racing back to Camp Jupiter on the world's fastest steed, he immediately jumped into battle where, with the help of a certain annoying minor Roman god, he was able to defeat a second giant in the span of less than six hours.

Not a bad start for the him and his friends.

Camp was saved and Percy was hailed as the savior of New Rome, even raised on a shield and elected the new praetor of Camp Jupiter. No small accomplishment for a Greek demigod in a span of less than three days.

The next day was far more rewarding, at least in Percy's eyes. The Argo II arrived at camp and he was finally reunited with the love of his life.

The celebration was short lived when an Eidolon possessed the son of Hephaestus leading to an attack on Camp Jupiter which forced Percy and his companions to flee with a legion of enraged Romans hot on their trail.

Not the ideal way to start their journey but it was okay. He had his friends Hazel and Frank along with some new ones as well. And, of course, he had Annabeth. That was all the incentive he needed to buy into the whole sailing to Rome to rescue Nico and stop a couple flamboyant twins of Gaea from destroying the city of Rome.

Obstacles came and went. Some more challenging than others but they made it to Rome.

That is when he had to face the most difficult challenge since waking up in Wolf House; letting Annabeth go off alone into Rome by herself in search of the Athena Parthenos which was guarded by Arachne.

No simple task for a child of Athena.

In the end, he forced himself to let her go alone, knowing she deserved the same type of trust that she placed in him.

Fast forward past almost being drowned by angry water nymphs and defeating two more giants with the absolute least help possible from a certain lazy wine god, Percy is finally reunited with Annabeth only to watch her being dragged down in Tartarus.

That is the first time he realized how much could happen in nine seconds.

Knowing he couldn't pull her up, he made a silent promise to himself that their time for being separated was over. Not after everything they had been through; multiple quests, battles, a war against the Titans and then being kidnapped by one of his least favorite goddesses, regardless of aspect.

It took nine seconds from the moment he made his silent promise until he let his fingers lose their grip on the ledge and allow himself to fall into the depths of Tartarus with his Wise Girl by his side.

Nine seconds from being in the city of Rome to plummeting into a place not even gods dared to venture into.

After making it through the pit, here they were at the final battle on the foot on the original Mount Olympus, fighting side by side with the Olympians for the fate of the world.

Finally, this was it. Win this battle and it could finally be over. No more wars. No more quests. Just some time to forget he was a demigod and enjoy being a regular teenager with the girlfriend of his dreams.

Sure they were still demigods and their lives would never be entirely normal but a break from fighting for the fate of the world was all they wanted.

Percy looked around to find his friend Frank fighting side by side his father against the giant Pelorus. Artemis and her hunters were battling the giant Gration; Apollo and a few of his sons, the lion-headed giant Leon.

As his eyes drifted around the battlefield, he felt his blood turn cold.

Zeus and Athena were locked in combat with the King of the Giants Porphyrion. That was not was froze him.

Annabeth was behind them, invisibility hat in hand, as she looked for an opportunity to aide her mother and Zeus in their battle against the giant.

What she and nobody else saw was the giant Mimas behind her while the god of the forge and his son lay wounded about twenty yards away.

That was when it started.

Percy was too far to reach her, too far to warn them over the sounds of battle, too far to do much else than watch in horror.

He ran.

He ran with everything he had but it wasn't enough.

The seconds ticked down agonizingly slowly.

One.

The giant saw the vulnerable daughter of Athena. Her attention too focused on aiding her mother in the battle against the most dangerous of giants.

Two.

Percy ran, surrounded by an army of monsters impeding his progress every step of the way. No matter how many he ran past, they seemed endless, like they were there just to get in his way.

Three.

Athena was blasted back by lightning as the giant king unleashed a bolt that would have made Zeus cry out in jealousy.

Four.

Leo climbed to his feet, blood falling from the side of his head as he noticed the giant born to oppose his father walking away from them.

Five.

Percy yelled. He yelled with everything he had. He knew it was pointless but he had to try. He had to. He and Annabeth had made it through everything. Countless life or death situations including a battle with the Titan Lord himself.

Six.

The winds began to pick up. Every step Percy took, the sky would darken and the rain began to fall in sheets. Annabeth was so close. So close yet so far. Dozens of monsters began to back away from the son of Poseidon as his attention remained focused on reaching his Wise Girl.

Seven.

Mimas raised a club, flames dripping off the weapon as he prepared to strike.

Eight.

Realization. It finally dawned on Percy he truly wasn't going to make it. Everything he fought for. His entire reason for fighting this war was out of his reach. He was going to fail.

Nine.

Athena saw as well but it was too late. The club came down, crushing the grey-eyed demigod just as Athena appeared, her spear thrust deeply into the giant's heart, Leo slamming a flaming hammer into the head of the giant the moment he hit the ground. But it was too late.

It took nine seconds for Percy's world to change. He had lost her. He failed to protect the one he loved. He wanted to drop to his knees and just give up. She had been his reason to fight. To fight for the life they could have had together; away from war and death. Away from danger and just live their lives.

But he did not drop to his knees.

Nor did he give up.

Athena shrunk down and cradled the limp form of Annabeth in her arms.

Percy turned his attention to Zeus and the King of the Giants as they met in a clash of lightning and electricity.

The rain stopped, as did the winds.

He wasn't sure what his plan was, or if he had one. He just ran. Ran as fast as he could until he was mere yards away from his uncle and Porphyrion.

His mind wasn't thinking it. Perhaps it was his subconscious, it did always seem to be a little smarter than he was.

Riptide was out, held so tightly his knuckles were white. Water followed the arc of his blade as he slashed towards the giant, opening up a relatively small wound into his tough dragon scaled legs.

Water followed his blade as he slashed again and again. He didn't realize he was doing it but the water wrapped around the monstrous legs of Porphyrion, travelling up his body and covering the giant in tendrils of water.

Zeus saw what Percy was doing but paused. He wouldn't survive this. Sure the demigod was a mouthy little upstart but Zeus blamed that on his brother more than Percy.

The King of the Gods locked eyes with the Savior of Olympus. One look in his broken sea green eyes told him he was sure.

The Lord of Skies let loose a blast of lightning like nothing he had produced before. The minute the bolt hit the water, both demigod and giant were blasted away.

Porphyrion landed on his back several dozen yards away. Sure he was born to oppose Zeus but even he had a limit to the voltage he could take.

Before he could regain his bearings, volley of silver arrows found their way into the dazed body of the giant.

Zeus looked up to find a teary eyed Thalia with a half-dozen hunters, Thalia's eyes now looking to the left where Percy landed.

Artemis drove a hunting knife deep into the heart of the giant, finally sending him down to Tartarus.

Zeus turned to his left to find the battlefield empty of enemies. The giants, all back in Tartarus, never awakening the earth mother from her slumber. The remaining monsters having fled when they saw their defeat was imminent.

Thirty yards away, an assortment of demigods, hunters and gods stood in a ragged circle around the unmoving body of Percy Jackson.

He was alive but barely.

Apollo stepped forward to try to heal the young hero but a hand shot up and grabbed his before he could try.

Apollo looked at Percy in shock.

"Percy, let me try to heal you." Apollo pleaded.

Percy shook his head despite how difficult it was for him. The son of Poseidon's eyes drifted to his uncle who stood beside Nico and Hazel.

Hades noticed the sea green eyes locked with his and nodded his head. He stepped forward and placed a hand on Percy's chest as the demigod's eyes closed before he took his final breath.

He expected the next place he would see to be DOA recording studios.

Instead he found himself in a line, something he would have to thank his uncle for.

Next to him stood a girl with blonde curls and a saddened expression marring her usually beautiful face.

She didn't notice him.

Without a word he slipped his hand into hers drawing a number of different looks from the grey-eyed girl; shock, followed by sadness, followed by relief, and then finally happiness.

He leaned down as planted a soft kiss on her cheek. Words weren't needed as they waited for their turn to be judged.

A.N: My first ever one-shot or Percy/Annabeth story. I have no idea if its good. I scrapped what I had this morning and wrote this today. Hopefully it is decent.

I wrote this for Lunknownl's contest, "Battle of the Fandoms".

There are a bunch of really good authors who are taking part in it. You should go read their one shots then vote for your favorite. I am quite sure they will be better than this one but oh well, Percabeth is not exactly my specialty.

But the contest is really cool so go read and vote for your favorite. I promise there will be good fics based on the authors involved. Seriously, take the time to go read the stories and vote for your favs... although wait for mine to be added... Maybe I'll get a few votes if you guys liked it.


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